By Tom Trush

If you want your marketing to trigger strong appeal, here's a concept you can't overlook:

Prospects decide whether your marketing message is worthy of attention by assessing quality and context.

Let me give you an example that explains what I mean ...

Imagine you sit down on your couch tonight, turn on your TV and see Paul McCartney playing his guitar on stage at New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Even if you didn't recognize the former Beatle or were familiar with his music, would you view him as someone with a high level of musical talent?

You probably would. After all, he's on TV and performing at a venue billed as "The World's Most Famous Arena."

Right?

Okay, now let's imagine you saw him playing the same guitar. However, this time he was singing alone on a street corner, dressed in casual clothes and seeking donations.

How would you view his talent? Would you still consider him a world-class performer?

A similar scenario played out in 1984. McCartney was filming a movie called Give My Regards to Broad Street. During production, producers put him in front of a London railway station and asked him to perform his song "Yesterday," one of the most covered songs in recorded music history.

Much to McCartney's surprise, not one person recognized him. Passing people viewed the singer as just another street performer. So they saw little reason to pay much attention.

Crazy, isn't it?

An entertainer described by Guinness World Records as the "most successful composer and recording artist of all time" was instantly transformed into an ordinary musician because of a change in environment.

You likely experience this phenomenon, too. For example, how often do give greater trust to published material? After someone writes a book or gets published in a high-profile publication, credibility follows.

You could post identical information on a pile of napkins (or even a flyer, e-mail or website) and it wouldn't carry a fraction of the credibility offered by a published piece.

How and where you use your marketing materials determines the importance prospects place on them.

So write for industry publications ... establish yourself as an author ... speak in front of audiences ... create and lead industry groups ... form your own networks ... distribute information worth sharing ... interview your field's most famous faces ... and, above all, use your marketing to show compassion and a desire for helping people.

Tom Trush is available at https://www.writewaysolutions.com.

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